Tag: Staff Directory WordPress Plugin

Something that’s been proven to work in business, is that people generally tend to buy from people they already know, like and trust.

Are you searching for cost-effective ways to grow your business online? Then something you can do, is make it easier for visitors to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.

If you use WordPress, a simple way to help people get to know you better is to display information about your key partners, your faculty, or your employees using a WordPress directory plugin.

In this step-by-step tutorial, we are going to show you how to create and add an updatable list of employees or team members to WordPress using free plugins.

Tutorial: Adding An Employee List Directory To Your WordPress Site

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress

(Simple Staff List)

Simple Staff List is a free plugin that lets you easily staff (you could also use it to display faculty, etc.).

First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.

Log into your administration and navigate to Plugins > Add New …

(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)

In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.

Click on the Install Now button …

(Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new menu entry will have been added to your WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

This menu is where you will configure and manage all of the settings and options for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.

Plugin Configuration

Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your employee directory, you can just begin to add new employee details after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your employees.

Staff Members – Groups

To set up your directory categories go to your WordPress dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This opens up the Groups settings …

(Groups settings area)

Note: Setting up directory groups works in the same way as adding categories …

(Groups work like WordPress categories)

Create new groups by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group category name here
2. Slug – Type in the slug of your group name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – Use this section to set up nested groups
4. Description – Enter the group description
5. Click the Add New Group button when finished to create your new directory category …

(Groups screen)

If you run a larger organization, the ability to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for investors, project teams, departments, etc.

Create as many categories and nested groups as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to assign these to a directory hierarchy …

(Nested categories)

Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering each new item …

To edit or reassign Groups for a specific item, hover your mouse over a category title and click on the Edit link …

The category will open in the Edit Group page. Select a new category from the Parent drop-down menu …

(Edit Group screen)

Click the Update button when done …

To change the Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and choose Quick Edit …

Click on Update Group  when done …

Continue adding group names to this section until you have created your directory structure …

You can add as many nested categories as you like …

(Nested categories)

Once you are done setting up your hierarchical structure, the next step is to begin adding staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

In your WordPress admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members – Add New)

This brings up the Add New Staff Member screen in your web browser …

(Add New Staff Member settings)

This page provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member information and includes the following fields:

Name Section (1)

• Name: Your employee’s name
• Slug: Edit each employees’ permalink URL (you will see this section after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: The employee’s position
• Email: Type the person’s email
• Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Enter your company’s Facebook address here (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Add the person’s Twitter username into this field (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Type a profile description for your employee or faculty member here. As this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can use HTML in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: Assign the person to a group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your groups).

If you click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …

(Screen options)

You will see options to enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

Now that you know what each section does, enter each of your employee’s details …

(Staff directory settings)

Once you are done entering each staff member’s details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups section in your sidebar …

(Groups section)

Note: If you did not set up directory groups before starting to add new staff members, you can add a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field for entering a group name will appear, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new directory category and click on the Add New Group button …

The new group will be added. Make sure that the check box is ticked …

(New group)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s details are being added or edited. To edit a group item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section of the tutorial above for details).

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After typing in the person’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

To edit the staff member’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

To learn more about using the WP admin toolbar, refer to this tutorial:

• The WP Dashboard Explained

Note: If you see ’page not found’ errors like the one shown below, check that your site permalinks have been configured correctly …

(Check your permalinks if you get ’page not found’ errors)

To learn more about setting up WordPress permalinks, refer to this tutorial:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Repeat the above process to add new members to your staff directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering staff details into your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on the main menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all your staff profiles and their details …

(Staff Members details list)

If you need to modify individual entries, hover your mouse over their listing, and a menu will appear.

Click on Edit if you need to edit the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a member from your directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …

(Edit Staff Members profile info)

If you have many entries, your list can become unwieldy.

You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to find entries …

(Search Staff Members search feature)

The plugin also lets you specify which fields can display in this screen. To show or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …

(Screen Options tab)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide specific fields. You can also specify how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when finished to save your preferences …

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order in which your staff details appear on your directory pages.

Choose Staff Members > Order on your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to the desired position …

(Reorder employee listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list entries)

After adding all members’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your site users.

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to specify the order in which your employees show on your directory pages.

Select Staff Members > Order in the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To reorder your entries, click and drag the item to its new location …

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered listings)

After adding all staff listing details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory show on your site.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

Simple Staff List allows you to edit the layout and style of your employee directory listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

To customize the layout and style of your staff list, select Staff Members > Templates from your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Customize your directory template)

To customize your directory listings, reorganize any of the allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.

For example, below is the default template used for displaying directory listings …

(Default Plugin Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Plugin Template Listing)

Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above listing. To display these fields, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template, as shown in the example below …

(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your directory page)

Here is what your staff list should now look like …

(Directory with social media URLs)

Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess with code or are not sure what to do, please contact us for help.

Usage Menu

In addition to allowing you to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.

In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This brings up the Usage page …

(Usage shortcodes)

This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations that you can use.

For example, a useful variation you can insert in your page to display only members of a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”senior staff”])

You can also make your listings display in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).

Options Menu

Click Staff Members >Options in your dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable options)

Here you can modify some of the labels used in the plugin

You can also export your staff members details by going to your dashboard menu and choosing Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

If you need additional information about the Simple Staff List plugin, visit the Simple Staff List faq page.

Other Employee Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List isn’t the only for creating a directory of your team members in WordPress. For example, here are other free WordPress plugins you can look at to add a directory on your site:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory)

The Modern Team Staff Directory plugin helps you collect your team information and showcase it anywhere on your site in beautiful grids, columns and tables. This premium plugin features over a dozen presets and provides editors that make it easy to edit and update your directory.

(Modern Team Staff Directory – Responsive Templates)

More info:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

Staff Directory lets you easily create a directory of faculty/staff/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, teams, etc.

The plugin lets you create custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: Staff Directory website)

More info:

• Staff Directory

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory)

The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin was developed to provide a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college or university.

The plugin also installs a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.

Learn more about the plugin here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

This plugin lets you add your staff, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are available, including grid and single views, as well as fields like position title, email, phone number, photo and member bio, allowing visitors to get to know your company and capabilities.

Visitors can click through from your list, grid, and table views to read more about each staff member in a customizable single view …

(Display your staff and faculty members in an easy to view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory plugin website)

This plugin uses shortcodes.

For more details go here:

• Company Directory – WP Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just one single member of your team in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.

With the Employee Spotlight plugin, you get two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of the viewer’s device.

Detailed information about  each staff member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …

(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot source: plugin website)

Go here to learn more:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress Plugin)

The Staffer plugin uses custom post types for staff/employee management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage an employee directory on your website …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: plugin website)

Staffer works immediately with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.

Learn more here:

• Staffer

If the above plugins aren’t what you’re looking for, search the WordPress plugin directory or go online and search for:

• Add Staff Directory To WordPress
• WordPress Staff List
• Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
• Employee Directory WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has explained how to create and add an easy-to-update employee directory in your WordPress site.

Images used to display fictitious staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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